BIRDS OF NEW YORK 357 



with roundish spots of black, and blotches of umber and brown. Average 

 size .88 by .62 inches in dimensions. 



The Waxwing is usually voted one of the sleekest and softest colored 

 of our birds. Its long pointed crest also gives it a distinguished appear- 

 ance, and its sedate manner and gregarious habits also attract attention. 

 They are called " polite birds " in many sections of the State because of 

 the habit of bowing and " passing the word " along the line, and of passing 

 a cherry. When the flock alights they ordinarily face all in the same direc- 

 tion. Occasionally before one will taste the fruit which has just been 

 picked, he passes it to the next one on the limb and so it travels down the 

 line, and on rare occasions has been seen to come back again along a limb 

 full of birds, before any member of the cornpany will deign to taste it. 

 The flock usually takes wing in a body, all seeming to spring into the air 

 at the same instant. They utter a continual tse-tse-tse, a high thin call, 

 which is evidently for the purpose of keeping the flock together. When 

 the breeding season approaches, the waxwings separate in pairs and begin 

 the duties of housekeeping. As soon as the young are grown one will find 

 the waxwings most commonly about swamps and edges of streams, where 

 they occupy exposed perches late in the afternoon and sally forth in pur- 

 suit of insects much after the manner of flycatchers, sometimes pursuing 

 them for several rods in the air and returning again to their chosen stand. 

 In this way I have seen 2 or 3 dozen waxwings at the same time scattered 

 about the shores of an Adirondack lake, all pursuing insects and returning 

 to the dry top of some spruce tree to await the approach of further prey. 

 In the fall and winter their gregarious habit may be of use in locating and 

 feeding on the berries of mountain ash, winter berry, privet and other 

 fruits, which are their principal food during the colder months. I have 

 frequently seen a mountain ash tree which must have been loaded with 

 several pecks of berries, stripped in a single day by a flock of these birds, 

 then they scour the country in search of other trees and so journey on from 

 one locality to another. They also feed in the winter to some extent on 

 frozen apples and the fruit of the Crataegus. In the spring and summer they 



